Minor Artifact for an E6 game

[Darth_Versity]

So in my game last night I ran Secret of the Windswept Wall as a sidequest on my groups journey towards Suzail, the capital of Cormyr. At the end the party found the Orb that is described as some sort of Artifact that the wizard has been searching for.

I expected the party to hand it over the the wizard, but as players tend to they went against my predictions. Even when offered a large sum of gold they still refused. So I decided to come up with stats for an Artifact that would be powerful but not rule over a lvl 2 party.

I came up with 'The Orb of Malar'

It is a powerful device that grants great power to the owner in return for a sickening that will eventually kill them.

In game terms it causes 1D4 CON dmg each morning in return for an equal STR bonus. Anything that removes or prevents the CON dmg also removes or prevents the STR bonus. The effect is cumulative and if it causes owner to reach 0 CON they die and their soul is sucked into the Orb and can only be resurrected by Malar himself.

Also, once per round as a free action, the owner may sacrifice another 1d4 CON for an equal amount of STR, hastening their death, but giving the chance to defeat their enemies.

On top of that it cannot be disposed of as it will just reappear in the owners possesion at the start of the next day. If the wielder is killed by anyone ownership of the Orb passes to that person.

The owner can give ownership over to a willing person, so long as the new owner is made fully aware of the Orbs effects and is under no magical compulsions.

The only way for the Orb to be without an owner is for the current owner to die from either the Orbs effects or Natural causes.


So what do you guys think. Is it an acceptable Artifact level item that would not severely impact the games balance?

[Golden Ladybug]

That is a very cool Artifact. I like it a lot.

Just make sure that no one has the bright idea of dipping Binder and keeping Naberius Bound 24/7, and using it to grant themselves 1d4 Strength in exchange for temporary squishiness every couple of rounds (especially if they have someone buff them with Bear's Endurance first). Because then the threatening and dark feeling of the Orb is lost somewhat...

If you want to make it really scary, make it Ability Burn, rather than damage.

[Stegyre]

So . . . why then did the wizard want it? :smallconfused:

[Darth_Versity]

So . . . why then did the wizard want it? :smallconfused:

Because... Wizards are wierd and mysterious and do odd things at times! :smallamused:

[Madcrafter]

To me it looks like a death sentence for whoever picked it up if they don't give it to the wizard. 1d4 Con damage a day will kill them pretty quick, and even if they want to stop it, it just means the cleric has to spend a spell on lesser restoration every day (which at level 2, he doesn't have yet).

Not to say I don't like it though. It just seems more like a cursed item than a beneficial artifact, and a pain to get rid of (unless they hand it over to the wizard).

[Darth_Versity]

To me it looks like a death sentence for whoever picked it up if they don't give it to the wizard. 1d4 Con damage a day will kill them pretty quick, and even if they want to stop it, it just means the cleric has to spend a spell on lesser restoration every day (which at level 2, he doesn't have yet).

Not to say I don't like it though. It just seems more like a cursed item than a beneficial artifact, and a pain to get rid of (unless they hand it over to the wizard).

The 1D4 damage can be mitigated by passinging it round the group. When someone is badly effected, they can hand it on to the next person while they heal.

It is a bit more like a cursed item, but I wanted something that wouldn't be a strait up buff.

[Boci]

The 1D4 damage can be mitigated by passinging it round the group. When someone is badly effected, they can hand it on to the next person while they heal.

1. Will your players want an item that kills them? (quite a few classes need strength less than con).

2. How are you planning to introduce it to them?

[Darth_Versity]

1. Will your players want an item that kills them? (quite a few classes need strength less than con).

2. How are you planning to introduce it to them?

They al ready have the item, they got it at the end of last session, but I expected they would hand it over to the wizard who wanted it so I had no stats. Its not really a case of whether they'd want the item, they already have it and have a way to be rid of it if they want (the wizard). if they choose to keep it, then its up to them.

I'm more worried about any power imbalance it may cause than the effect on the party. If they really want rid of it one player has already stated he's not particularly fond of his character as playing a Paladin is to confining so he may deside to take the orb himself to die somewhere hidden with it to help contain its power.

[Golden Ladybug]

Well, that's certainly a very paladin-y thing to do. I'd give him a bunch of roleplay EXP (transferable to his next Character) and let him take the Orb and himself to be hidden away, to protect the world from this great evil. Especially if he describes it in a really cool way :smallwink:

I don't think you should be too worried about imbalance between the party unless someone tries to find a way to get around its drawbacks (Naberius). It comes with a heavy penalty, and its reward isn't proportional to the cost, so whoever uses it is taking their life in their hands to gain boost to hit and damage.

[Fouredged Sword]

Not to broken. If I was not attached to my paladin (and in his shoes) I would be tempted to find the deepest vault most protected by my order and seal myself into a room, then let the thing kill me so it is locked away hopefully forever.

My next character could be a nice shinny new paladin who feels duty bound to fill the void left by the noble sacrifice of a member of his order. Stuff gets handed over before the death, or willed after.

[limejuicepowder]

I think the drawback might be a bit too harsh - keep in mind that virtually every str based class had con as it's second most important stat. The relatively minor str-boosting benefits are going to be outweighed by the terrible loss of hit points. If you don't really expect the PC's to use it, then it's fine, but I just can't imagine any fighter voluntarily losing 2 hp/level in exchange for bull's strength. After a couple days, the character would be basically incapable of entering combat.

Instead of con damage, maybe use something like the taint or madness system. Make the strength gain a flat 1 or 2 per day, but the character gains X points of taint/madness (I'm partial to madness). The penalties become quite harsh, and I like the role-playing oriented drawback as well (gaining great power at the cost of sanity, or purity).

Oh 'nother idea: rather then str, allow the character to choose what stat to increase. This way, it would be equally appealing to any class.

[Fouredged Sword]

If ideas help I had a major artifact I created that did something close to this.

It was a sword that granted more power as it's will was drawn out by the user.

At the lowest level it added +2 str, con, and wis, but -1 dex, int, and cha. The next level did +4 str, con, and wis, and -2 dex, int. and cha. Third level ect, up to 5 levels.

Each level also caused the sword to do an additional 1d6 damage that was ether divine or fire damage, whatever would be more effective.

While you had it drawn it caused one point of damage directly to hp each round per level it was activated to. This damage could not be magically healed or prevented in any way.

The sword itself wasn't cursed, just one of a set. To use one without the other would imbalance the wielder's soul, rending the physical body.

The second blade did what the first did, but it boosted dex, int, and cha at the penalty of str, con, and wis, and the damage it had was profane or electrical.

Both swords existed as a set, with each one opposed to the other throughout history of the world. Few realized that the set was in fact made not to oppose one another, but be wielded together.

I wasn't too afraid to give a sword to the party, because the damage was a balance. The class best suited to ignore the damage was best helped by a niffy magic sword and most in need of not being overpowered by the wizard.

i had always intended the game to be run once with a party that got their hands on the good sword and once that got their hands on the evil sword, then finish the game with a party that got both swords and a real shot at writing the next chapter of the world I was making for the game.

Not sure if this helps any, but I hope you can see the potential of an artifact to drive a cool plot. Maybe you want to have the story continue as normal, maybe you want the story to suddenly change to be about this cool artifact.

If you do want this artifact to drive the story I would suggest you change it to allow for the party to be able to recover from the effect over time. Maybe allow the party member who is wielding it to be able to recover the con damage normally with a day of full bed rest (taking no additional damage, but healing normally). If you do not draw on your strength, the orb does not try to enhance it.

I would reconsider con damage though. Consider something like pure hp damage that cannot be healed. Maybe wis damage as it drives you crazy, or less random, like it boosts a set of stats that would benefits any party member, by subtracts a set the hurts everyone.

Maybe it makes your life burn faster, boosting all stats by one but hurting wis and cha as it makes you into a manic crazy. Make the paladin feel the divine grace that he has fade(his powers are cha and wis based) as he holds the orb, but his sword arm is so much more effective this way in the service of his god! If you want to be mean, make the player roll a will save to put the orb down and sleep at night.